We Few
by Wind2048
Summary: Quirks were never discovered. No one was ever born with some sort of supernatural ability. Yet, the world is in even more chaos, and the roles of 'hero' and 'villain' still remain. Quirkless!AU


**Hello! This is my first time publishing a story haha... I just had a sudden bout of inspiration and since it's the summer holidays, I decided to go through with this idea and write it out since I have literally nothing else to do. I really want to see what you guys think about it since, again, I've never written or published anything like this before. I want to see this story/project through since I personally find it pretty interesting ;o**

**I hope you enjoy it and please let me know about anything I can improve! Thank you for visiting :D**

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On the outskirts of the city, there lies a huge area of land void of compact close-together high-rise buildings. The structures surrounding this area created a sort of wall, separating what was inside from the rest of the city. When looking at it from above, it would seem like a rectangular hole was punched right into the metropolis. However, that wasn't to say there weren't any buildings inside this place, in fact, a tall tiered tower stood at what seemed like the centre of the isolated rectangular area. A spacious parking lot was positioned close to this building, and various other structures also surrounded this central tower. In the places not occupied by buildings, were various types of foliage scattered around. A large grassy area was spread out behind the main tower, and in general, patches of green are spread around. It was quite uncommon to see such large areas of nature in such a densely populated city, however, this was built before the city around it expanded.

A heavily secured fence wraps around the perimeter of this rectangular area, guarded and watched at all hours of the day. There were four entrances on each cardinal side of the area, each having a main road leading to the centre building. However, these entrances are even more rigorously guarded, with two gates separating the inside of this huge complex from the rest of the city. To even get inside, you need to pass numerous security checks, that is, if you were a guest, or if it was your first time. And, that exactly what this young man walking towards of one of the gates has to soon go through.

He wore a simple white shirt and red tie with black slacks, carrying a large toned-down yellow backpack and held one of the straps with his hands. Briefly stopping before the security check, he reflected on his journey to get here. He has always admired the people working here since childhood, especially the enforcers, however, not much information about what they do is released to the public. All he knows is that they protect the world against one of the largest and most prominent criminal organisations in the world. But, the tidbits he had seen were enough to spur on his motivation to join them. It was a huge surprise when he received the notice of acceptance, after all, it was a heavily competitive process. Many people apply, however, few get accepted. Shaking his head out of his thoughts, he took a deep breath in and continued to go through the smaller side gate.

The first thing he saw within the moderately sized room was a queue of people to the right, waiting to have their identity checked. He observed that there were eight booths total, and each booth had dividers between each of them, separating and partially soundproofing them. The booths were also all fully staffed. It was no surprise though, since it was orientation day. Conforming with the rest of those lining up, he patiently stood in line. Whilst waiting, he noticed that there were also many people simply continuing through the exiting doorway, where a dual metal-detector-electronic-id-scanner was situated. There were two guards on either side of the doorway. The young man had read about the revolutionary technology that this organisation invented. It can precisely distinguish between common metal objects such as watches or belts, and foreign ones that may prove to be dangerous. It might seem insignificant, however, it saves so much time when metal needs to be checked for. A person doesn't have to take off everything that's metal on them before passing through. He also heard that they shared this technology with airports, making security checks there somewhat faster too, but he digresses.

Due to having all of the security booths being staffed, the young man didn't have to wait long before it was his turn. The attendant at the booth looked tired, despite being pretty early in the morning, being about 8:30 am.

She asked the young man with a lazy voice, "Guest or new recruit?"

He replied cheerily, "Hello! I'm a new recruit."

Moving her mouse before clicking, she then asked, "Your acceptance letter please..."

"Eh- oh right," replied the young man out of slight surprise.

He forgot that he needed to hand in the letter he received from this organisation at the first security check. He should've prepared whilst in line. As he rummaged through his backpack hastily, the booth attendant audibly sighed. It took a minute before he found the letter, having crammed various supplied in his backpack, making it hard to find anything specific. He finally found it and took it out.

With an apologetic smile, he handed over the letter with both of his hands, "Sorry for taking a while to find it, I should've prepared it beforehand."

"Don't worry about it," sighed the attendant again as she took the letter, confirming its contents with the system before also verbally verifying it with her client.

"Your full name?"

"Izuku Midoriya"

"Date of birth?"

"15th of July, 2XXX" [1]

"Place of birth?"

"Shizuoka Prefecture"

"Gender?"

"Male"

"Blood type?"

"O-"

"Height?"

"171cm"

"Weight?"

"Xkg" [2]

"Mother's maiden name?"

"Inko Midoriya"

"Father's name?"

"Hisashi Midoriya"

"Where did you go to for high school?"

"Yuuei High School" [3]

"Hm, alright then, it all checks out. Please face the divider wall to your left to have your image taken. Don't smile or anything, just have a neutral face."

Izuku followed her instructions and turned to the left. There was a brief flash before a notification sound played from the attendant's computer, notifying her that the photo was taken successfully.

She then informed her client, "Okay, give me a few minutes to create your identification card. I'll need to go for a bit later too so I can retrieve it from the printer."

With a slight smile, Izuku replied, "Yep!"

Not knowing what to do while waiting, he stared beyond the glass of the booth and observed the painting hanged on the wall. It looked like an abstract piece with a curvy 'h' and an 'i' in the middle of it, creating a sort of slit-eye effect. A stylised heart can be seen too, it was split in half by the tip of the 'h'. It was coloured red, and overall it was slightly creepy, it looked like it was staring at you, deeply... Having decided that the painting was slightly unsettling, Izuku moved his eyes to a plain-looking clock on the wall. It was at this moment that the attendant stood up wordlessly and went away, assumedly to retrieve the identification card. In the meantime, he idly watched the clock tick by. He didn't know how long he stared at the clock before the attendant returned.

As she sat down she informed Midoriya," Alright, give me another minute to link your ID to the system. Please note that this will only contain your basic information, and further security insurances will be added at the next station."

"I understand," responded Izuku.

She inserted the card into the reader, and with a final tap of the keyboard, uploaded the data. It didn't take long for the computer to sound another notification to let the attendant know that the data was successfully uploaded and linked to the system.

"Here is your organisational ID, you'll need this to enter most of our facilities on the grounds. Most doorways will scan for this, so keep it on your persons at all time. There's a clip so you can just hang it somewhere. Oh, and please don't lose it..." informed the attendant as she handed Midoriya the ID.

"Thank you, and I won't!" exclaimed Izuku as he gratefully took his ID from her.

"Welcome to the United Defence Force." [4]

As Izuku was about to leave, he remembered giving the acceptance letter to the attendant. He wanted to frame the letter for the future since it was quite a momentous achievement for him. So he sputtered, "Ah, a-actually, I was thinking if I could keep the acceptance letter? Since this is a big deal for me... I wanted to keep it as a trophy I guess- b-but it's fine if I can't, I can totally understand that. Maybe the UDF would want to keep it for records or something. It would be really cool though if I could keep it, so I was just wondering..."

With a slight deadpan the attendant responded, "Sorry, but the letter will have to be destroyed actually, our policies and stuff."

"O-oh," Izuku dejectedly replied before quickly cheering up again, "okay, that's fine, thank you again and have a good day."

Izuku waved goodbye at the booth attendant before heading over to the security scanner. He glanced over the queue for the booths and noticed that the line had gotten significantly shorter. In panic, he quickly took out his phone and checked the time, it read '8:41'. Realising he was going to be late, he put his phone away and tried to rush through the scanner, however it would only allow one person at the time. Luckily it didn't take long to pass through and arrive at the second security checkpoint. Hopefully the second stage wouldn't take as long.

It seemed like this area was done with an automated machine. There were six devices lined up next to each other, each having a short queue before them. There were also armed guards standing on the sidelines, both on the entering side of the room and the exiting side. Deciding that he had taken enough time staring at the new devices, Izuku proceeded to line up in the shortest queue.

Again, it didn't take long before it was his turn to go through the machine. As he stood on the ground near the machine, he could feel the floor slightly lower. Up close, he could see that there was an interactive monitor to the side of the device asking him to insert his card. A card reader was underneath it, and a handprint reader was to its left. Izuku took his newly-gained card out of its holder and inserted it into the machine, waiting for it to process with a slightly worried look on his face.

'Verifying weight...'

'Completed.'

'Verifying height...'

'Completed'

A beep sounded from the interactive monitor. Izuku took out his phone and checked the time, '8:45'.

'Please face the monitor.'

'Verifying facial features...'

'Completed.'

Another beep sounded.

'Please register your dominant hand's print.'

He followed its instructions and placed his right hand on the scanner.

'Registering handprint...'

'Complete.'

'Welcome... Izuku Midoriya. Please collect your identification card and proceed.'

Izuku removed his hand and checked his phone again, '8:47'. Crap. He hurriedly retrieved his card and began to fast-walk towards the exit. The guards stared at him suspiciously at his actions but didn't think much of it since others were seemingly rushing too. He couldn't spend as much time admiring the central building up close for as long as he'd like, he'd get back to that later, but for now, he needs to quickly go to the building where the orientation presentation was held at. It was an easy task for him though, since he memorised the path headed to the specified building beforehand.

The specified structure was one of the closest buildings to the entrance Izuki came from, that's why he chose it, however, it was still a long-distance away. The grounds of this place were pretty big after all. Some trees shaded the path he was running along on, so when he finally arrived at the building, he wasn't as sweaty as he would've been if the sun was shining bare on him. Still outside and resting, he took out his phone and checked the time again, '8:50'. Izuku didn't take long to recover, however, he was still heavily breathing when he entered the building and spoke to the receptionist.

"H- hello my name's Izuku Mi- Midoriya I'm a new recruit here for the orientation meeting," reported Izuku, finally having composed himself at the end of that sentence.

The receptionist smiled and asked whilst typing his name onto the computer, "May I please see your identification card?"

Realising that he was holding onto his ID the whole time he ran, it was now slightly sweaty. In minor panic, he quickly wiped the sweat off his pants and sheepishly gave it to the receptionist. They took the slightly moist ID card nonchalantly, they've dealt with worse before. Confirming the information, they returned the card.

"Welcome Recruit Midoriya, please go to the second floor, the orientation is held in room 2A," the receptionist noted, before added reassuringly, still smiling, "You shouldn't be too late, they usually start a few minutes later anyways."

"Thank you!" replied Izuku before he finally securely clipped his ID to his hip. He then sped towards the elevator and spammed the button to the second floor. He checked the time on his phone again and it read '8:52', it seems like he wasn't going to be late. Calming down, he took a deep breath as he waited for the elevator to reach his floor. It was a short ride since it was only the second floor. Exiting, he saw a small lobby right outside the elevator for guests to wait at. There were a few sofas and a vending machine, along with a small T.V that was currently playing an exclusive interview with various sociologists and other scientists.

'-ost asked question we have received is, how exactly does Japan do it? With the ever rapid growth of the human population worldwide, countries have been facing a crisis. Yet, Japan seems to be holding a stable amount of people, with no drastic increases. How would you explain the cause of this?'

'Well, of course, there are always numerous factors when considering Japan's situation, however, one of the leading contributors is probably the opposite crisis Japan has had in the past - its declining population.'

'Japan's declining population? Can you please elaborate more on that?'

'Of course. The country's population first started decreasing back in the late 20th century mainly due to the lack of stable jobs for young adults entering the workforce. They were not able to support themselves, let alone a family, and therefore not many people chose to have children. Ironically, whilst the use of robots hindered Japan in the past, down the line in modern times, it's actually saved them from this crisis facing plenty of other nations.'

'Thank you for that explanation, talking generally about the issue the world is facing, what do you think the success rate of eac-'

Izuku didn't listen for long since he needed to attend the orientation presentation. Unsurprisingly, room 2A was basically right next to the lobby-elevator room to the left. Steeling himself in preparation, he slid the door open.

There were rows and rows of seats filled with people, the first few rows were all full, whilst those closer to the back were more empty. Since the room was crowded, barely anyone noticed the almost late arrival. Taking this opportunity to find a seat before the presentation begins, Izuku tried to search for one up close to the stage, however, he would need to go through many already occupied seats to reach them. Not wanting to disturb the other recruits, he decided to simply find one closer to the back.

He found a seat near the edge of a middle row, it wasn't the best seat he wanted, but it'll have to do. He slid off his backpack and placed it underneath the chair to leave the pathway unblocked. Now that he's finally settled down and found a seat, Izuku checked his phone for one last time '8:55'. Glad that he wasn't late, he perked up and spent the rest of his time looking around the room. He could see that there was a raised platform at the front of the room, where all the chairs were facing. Behind that was a wall, where the symbol of the United Defence Force was projected onto. It was a surprisingly clear image, despite the indoor lights being on. Just as he mentally commentated on that, all the lights except those at the very front dimmed. This brought about immediate silence and attention from those seated in the audience. Everyone was talking to each other, and then suddenly no one was. The silence could almost be considered unsettling before-

"I AM HERE!" the strong voice resounded throughout the room, which was accompanied by what sounded like the door being violently slid open.

Since Izuku was behind a few rows of people, and was never that tall to begin with, he had difficulties in seeing who it was. However that catchphrase, and that particular tone of voice - there was only one person it could belong to.

"Isn't it a bit too early to be this rowdy, All Might?" commented a voice after the first person.

Izuku stuck his head up to see who this second person was, it was obvious who the first one is. He was finally able to see what was going on at the front, and of course All Might was confidently striding across the elevated platform. The other one who just spoke and entered through the doorway had long dark hair and in overall, seemed pretty scrappy. Izuku could see the second person visibly yawn with their hands balled up, covering their mouth.

"It is never too early to meet these fresh-faced youngsters!" retorted All Might.

A third person entered with their hands on their head, rearing back with laughter. "Gahaha, it's just you who thinks that Eraser Head."

Said person, Eraser Head, didn't respond to that, and just looked even more tired. Instead, a fourth person did, "YEEEAAAAAH! You should be more excited about this Eraser! Just like Blood King over there!" they yelled as they finger-gun pointed at the person in front of them, now known as Blood King.

"...Let's just get this over with, Mic," sighed Eraser before finally standing in place on the platform.

"Now now boys, be gentle with each other," voiced a more feminine voice from the doorway.

"All of us are now here, All Might, if you will," sounded a slightly distorted voice after the previous person.

Having regained his composure from seeing the most famous enforcer in the world right in front of him, Izuku then also noticed that the others standing on stage alongside All Might were also those mentioned on the internet before. Although not as popular or widely known, being the admirer he is, he memorised and knew anything and everything about enforcers, popular or not. As long as their code-names and existence were publicly known, he could spew out facts he knew about them off the top of his head. It was slightly strange though, he didn't recognise one of those on the stage, the person whom Blood King referred to as 'Eraser Head'. It shouldn't surprise him though since there were plenty of enforcers whose identities were confidential. However, he was still curious since the others were all practically legends, only wisps of information lingered around online. For that individual, Eraser Head, to stand alongside them, he must be pretty powerful himself too.

"Ehrm, right." composed All Might, "Welcome young recruits to the United Defence Force! You have all proven and shown us that you have the potential to become one of the most prestigious and front-line members of this organisation - being an enforcer."

All Might paused for emphasis.

"But what exactly do we do? Of course, you've all heard the general information released to the public, that we are the main group that keeps the primary source of all crime in the world in check. In a sense, they are a rivaling organisation who call themselves The Revolutionary Order. [5]"

The image being projected behind All Might changed to the symbol of The Order, and his tone got slightly more serious, "Before I elaborate more on that, I might make one thing clear. By being in this room, you are already a member of the team, a new one, but still a member nonetheless. From the moment everyone accepted our invitation, you are sworn to confidentiality."

Everyone in the room could feel some tension build-up.

"While we have publicly portrayed The Order as a mere terrorist organisation, in truth there is much more to that." All Might clicked the button of the presentation remote, showing a graphic of the Earth in a cage.

"As you know, the world is facing a crisis, that there is simply not enough space for everyone to survive and thrive in, to simplify, overpopulation. Whilst its effect on Japan is lessened, the same cannot be said for many other countries. Of course, everyone, worldwide, is trying to solve the issue, and there have been many theories on how we can solve this. From colonising other planets to living underground, in the sky or on the sea, there have always been talented people conjuring innovative solutions."

The image switched back to the logo of The Order. "However, in the midst of this ever-growing crisis, The Order has been using it as a petty excuse for their actions. Their ultimate goal is to wipe out over seventy-five percent of the population, thus allowing the last twenty-five percent to live. Do not be deceived by this, the simple truth is that they are passing off all their murderous and criminal actions off 'for the betterment of society'. Even going to lengths where they sabotage actual progress to keep their excuse going. Murder is murder and no excuse can change that."

Gaining a more hopeful tone, All Might clicked the remote, once again displaying the logo of the UDF. "As such, to counter their organisation, various nations around the world created the United Defence Force, otherwise known as the UDF. We have numerous bases worldwide, monitoring The Order's actions, and conducting missions to stall their progress. UDF has quickly gained members, almost enough to rival The Order's, yet somehow they seem to be growing stronger each day."

The graphic changed again, this time to what looked like a bomb. "I won't get into too much detail now, however, we have heard rumours that they have obtained knowledge that may be detrimental to the rest of the world, and we are in desperate need of new talent to help us counter these criminals."

Returning back to the UDF logo, All Might began to finish his speech. "We hope you all develop into wonderful enforcers, we are thankful for your presence. It's reassuring."

"From the depths of my heart, I welcome you, new recruits," All Might and the rest of the teachers bowed, "to the United Defence Force!"

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And there it is, the end of the first chapter. Again, if there's anything that I could change or improve, or if there are any criticisms, bad or good, let me know!

[1] - His year of birth isn't really mentioned so I'm not really sure when he was born in, but I assume it's in the 21st century at least

[2] - Again his weight isn't really mentioned so I just put nothing there lol, but the weight is still questioned for immersion I guess xd

[3] - In this AU UA/Yuuei is just another normal high school, however, it is still quite famous for having quite successful graduates.

[4] - I'm not creative at all when coming up with these names, and to be honest I want to change it but I don't know what to change it to. You'll also see later just how bad this lack of creativity is, so maybe some suggestions on some cool organisation names would be nice haha

[5] - u see i am not creative at all when it comes to naming things. plz help.

If there's anything else that needs clarifying, let me know and I'll add it to the end of this chapter and include it in the next one too!


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